Cristina Odone is a journalist, novelist and broadcaster specialising in the relationship between society, families and faith. She is the director of communications for the Legatum institute and is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and deputy editor of the New Statesman. She is married and lives in west London with her husband, two stepsons and a daughter. Her new ebook No God Zone is now available on Kindle.

Is there a secret Harriet Harman fan beavering away within the Coalition?

My aunt, a former social worker, has often told me that the saddest if most eloquent gaze is that of a "knowing" child. It's a look that speaks of a cunning beyond their years, lost innocence, and contempt for others and above themselves. It is the expression loving parents pray to never catch in their child's eyes.

It's as if the Government has decided that, given the hard times their parents are facing, children should not be exempt from some horrors too. Why should they gambol through their early days with carefree cheer? No good comes of being molly-coddled by gentle readings of Peter Rabbit and lessons in the two times table: let's rip up childhood and push them, weeping and blinking, out into the grown-up world.

So much for the Prime Minister's belief in happiness. Nothing is calculated to poison happiness more surely than extinguishing a child's innocence. Warnings about sexual violence can be issued by their favourite teacher, or couched in an animated cartoon; they may be sophisticated or blunt; but whatever the context, they will alert your child to ugly and vicious experiences most of them need never know about.

"Most" is right: there is, sadly, a small minority of primary school children for whom this violence is an everyday occurrence. They themselves may be its target, or they may see mum being victimised, or sis. In these children's cases, speaking of rape and beatings will not alarm them, or introduce them precociously to what is most terrible in our world; these poor children are all too familiar with such behaviour. Addressing the issue in frank discussions may help these abused children to realise that violence is not the norm in a relationship. It can thus be a valuable tool in keeping them from repeating this brutish behaviour. But this exposure will only traumatise the great majority of children for whom, thank God, dad hitting mum is unheard of.

Sacrificing the right of the blessed majority to a happy childhood for the right of a tragic few to know that there is a name for the ugliness they see daily – this sounds disturbingly familiar. All the more so when it is part of a bigger package that includes "Go Orders" which bans a man accused of domestic violence from his home – even if there is no criminal conviction. Yes, in this man-hating scheme, we recognise the finger-prints of the last government's Nanny-in-chief, Harriet Harman.

How did her meddling and self-righteous spirit manage to infiltrate the new lot? There's nothing for it: she must have an accomplice embedded in Government. Coalition, beware: a Harriet Harman fan is loose among you. Give her her "Go Orders" before she ruins your reputation.